Cooling-plate for continuous-rectification apparatus



E. A. BARBET. COOLING PLATE FOR CONTINUOUS RECTIFICATION APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26. 19H. J

Patented Jan. 20, 1920.

2SHEETS-SHEET1- Fig.1

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E. Barbe?- lnmnIbr E. A BARBET. I COOLiNG PLATE FOR CONTINUOUSRECTIFICATION APPARATUS.

I APPLICATION HLIED MAR. 26. 1917. I I

Patented Jam 20, 1920..

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

To all whom it may concern: a s

' UNITED ATEs PATENT oFF oE.

EMILE AUGUSTIN BABBET, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

cooLme-1 LArE FOR conrmuous-nnc'rrncnrron ArrAaATUs;

Be it known that I, EMILE AUGUSTIN BARBET, a citizen of the FrenchRepublic, residing at No. 5 Rue de lEchelle, Paris, France, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Cooling-Plates forContinuous-Rectification A paratus, of, which the following is a specication.

This invention relatesto cooling plates for rectifying columns.

The' construction of employed in the continuous rectification ofalcohols and :other industrial products presents certain difficulties.For instance, the

metallic plates on which the liquid rests, are I naturally oodconductors of heat, and there'- I fore the liquid which is being cooledis beplates which absorb heat fromthe vapor.

' tional difiiculties in the way of arranging. the cooling pipe coilthrough the narrowmg) reheated at the same rate, not by the bu blingupof the vapors as' desired, but simply owing to the conductivity of theexisting under the. plate.

The result is a partial condensation of these vapors, just as if acooling pipe coil were'located in the va or chamber .on the Cofl'eysystem. The 0 ject-in view" is not vapor at a certain, temperaturethrough a liquid, that-is at. a slightly lower temperature, is .notrealized. 4

0n the 'other hand there are construcpassages of the hoods of which somany are located on each plate.

This last'difiiculty would be solved if rccourse were had to the oldperforated plate, but although this last kind of plate is very suitablefor 'use'in discontinuous rectifying apparatus, where it 1s. a necessityto discharge the impure liquid 'ofthe plates after each 0 eration, yeton the contrary, the perforate plate is contra-indicated in the case ofcontinuous rectification, Ithas been found in practical work that in thelatter case it is absolutely necessary-to useyonly unemptiable plateswhich hold. permanently aconstant quantity of liquid and which allow theoperator to stop the rectifymetal cooling plates Specification ofLetters Patent. Patented an. 20, 1920. Application filed March 26, 1917.Serial No. 157,578.

ing process for ashort time now and then without causing, for instance,the .good alcohol of the upper regionsto flow down suddenly or in bulkinto the lower part of the apparatus which, should always remainincrease the pressure in the colmun.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved coolingplate for recti The inventlon includes the provision of plates of theemptiable and unemptiable types, and particularly plates of the lattertype which comprise a basin, a. erforated diaphragm, a central chimney,a ood over the chimney and an overflow.

Several embodiments of this invention are illhustlrated in theaccompanying drawings in we 1c Figure 1 is a vertical section of theplate,

Fig. 2.is a plan thereof,

Figs. 3 and at are respectively a plan and a vertical section of amodification, and Fig. 5 is a vertical section of a furthermodification. v

As shown, the plate A is concave and comprises a. central chimney B,with an overflow C and from the 'overflow E. The chimney B is sura basinD for receiving the liquid mounted by a single central hood F theannular edge of which is extended in the form of a horizontal perforateddiaphragm G extending up to the circumference of the plate.

By this means the alcohol vapor instead ofv emerging immediately fromthe hood in the form of very coarse bubbles, is now on the contrarysubdivided into thousands of very fine bubbles issuing from each of the.holes of the diaphragm, exactly as in the old perforated plates. Thespace comprised between A and G is full of vapor, and'the pressure ofthis vapor maintainsthe liqu d above the diaphragm G up to a levelthat.1s...;;

regulated by the level of the overflow If the heating of the apparatusshould be stopped, the whole of the liquid passing I through thediaphragm G will be accommodated on the plate A, and since the top ofthe chimney 'B of the central hood is higher. than the overflow C, nopart of the liquid can fall back on to the lower plate. The plateistherefore unemptiable. a

As soon as the lower part of the rectifier is again heated, the pressureof the vapor issuing'from underneath the hood F, will force'the liquidback toward the periphery, and will empty the space between A and G ofliquid, and it will compel the liquid to remain entirely on top of the'horizontal I; diaphragm as it was at the beginning of the stoppage.

By the combination of this-unemptiable perforated plate having a smoothsurface, there is no longer any difficulty in locating a cooling pipecoil, and in increasing the number of the convolutions of said coil toany desired extent. Since the thickness of the layer-of liquid is small,it is advisable to flatten the pipe J to an elliptical shape in orderthat it maybe immersed. The said pipe is held at a suitable fixedheightby means of supports S. The pipe J is connected at one end to thecollector 1C which supplies cold water;.'the warmed water flows ofl"through the collector L. I

In operation, the liquid is far from presenting a smooth surface. On thecontrary it is in a state of very intense ebullition, so that the liquidis renewed very rapidly at the contact with the pipe coil, and it losesby that contact some fractions of a degree of temperature.

Traveling thence to the right and-to the left the liquid'is traversed bythe small bubbles of vapor issuing from the diaphragm G, the resultbeing the bubbling of the vapor, in a liquid which has been slightlycooled at that very moment; this is the realization of the obj ect inView.

v In certain cases it may be very diflicult to arrange pipe coilscovering the entire surface of the platefin order to' effect 'a goodcooling of the liquid. In this case. it is suflicient to perforatethe'diaphragm D only in those parts thereof which are adjacent to thecooling coil. By setting the holes closer together it would be possibleto rovide the number of holes which has en found necessary bycalculation.

Further, and especially in apparatus large sizes, it has been found thatthese plates do not work uniformly throughout the entire surface of theperforated part. The perforations at the periphery allow only a smallquantity of vapor to pass through, whereas a much greater quantitypasses n'tl fi gh' he perforations situated nearthe center, that"istosay, Laround and close to,

the hood. "The result of this is thatthe .fulness of a part of theperforations in the operation is greatly reduced, and m order to obtaina complete utilization of the holes for the passage of the vapor it isnecessary to increase the pressure in the column.

Consequently recourse is hadto the following construction shown in Figs.3 and 4,

" which is employed more particularly the A flat horizontal diaphragm Gof an- I nular A v Its outer diameter is equal to the diameter of theconcavity of the bottom A and its 1 inner diameter is equal to that ofthe hood.

This diaphragm is fixed in any suitable manner to the body A and to thehood F. Y It is provided throughout its surface with perforations, thenumber and diameter of whichare determined by calculation so that thetotal section of the perforations shall be suflicient for the thecolumn. D

This perforated diaphragm Gr is moreover provided at its per1phery witha certain shape is located above the bottom work required to be done byr preferably of elon number of holes H of much larger diameter than theother holes; the use of these holes is hereinafter described.

I are upstanding baflles located on the flat part of the bottom A, forthe. purpose of compelling the liquid to flow over the perforated plate.I

The cooling pipes J are arranged and operated as'in the precedingconstruction, but it no longer necessary for them to have a complicatedcurvature.v As the perforated diaphragm is circular, the pipes arearranged in a spiral, and the whole of the perforated'diaphragm thusreceives the cooling effect in the uniform manner. They may be alsoarranged in any other suitable manner. 7 The'operation of, thismodification is the same as in the preceding example, but at the start,the liquid driven by the vapor coming from B flows on top of thediaphragrnGr through the orifices, H, and the 1 liquid .which has somedifficulty in passing through the ordinary perforations of G will .on'the contrary pass very readily through the orifices H; this facilitatesthe 4 lar diaphragm is entirely perforated without any residual solidportion, the work of perforation can be effected economically bymachinery.

In the modification shown in Fig. 5, the perforated diaphragm instead ofbeing fiat, is made slightly dish-shaped as shown at G .Thisconstruction facilitates the arrival of the vapors up to the peripheryof the perforated diaphragm.

Further, the large orifices H are omitted; but in order to provide anequivalent and thereby obtain the same facility of starting, instead. ofthe diaphragm Gr being located directly upon the bottom A, small wedgesare interposed between those two parts, and the annular slit thusprovided erforms the same function as the orifices The hereinbeforedescribed constructions I of plates may be employed in all apparatus fordistilling or refining, with oiwithout the addition of cooling pipesaccording to requirements. 7

What I claim is: 1. A cooling plate structure-for rectifying columnscomprising a dished bottom plate,

an upstanding chimney arranged therein, a

hoodsurrounding the said chimney, a substantially horizontal perforateddiaphragm surmounting the said .dished plate for caus- I ing the Vaporspassing through the liquid on the diaphragm to be broken up into smallbubbles and a cooling coil associated with the said device, such coolingcoil being located below the normal liquid level of the reflux liquidsupported -on said perforated diaphra m, the perforations in saiddiaphragm eing located only close to the said cooling coil.

2. A cooling device for rectifying columns as specified in claim 1, inwhich the bottom plate comprises a concave basin, the chimney therein incentral position and an overflow; In testimony whereof I have signed myname-to this specification.

' EMILE AUGUSTIN BARBET.

' Witnesses: I

LUCIEN PAILLARD, CHAS. P. PRESSLY.

